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.02 Fire Protection of Safe Shutdown Capability
a. Inspection Scope
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For the selected fire areas/zones, the inspectors evaluated the potential for fires, the
combustible fire load characteristics, potential exposure fire severity, the separation of
systems necessary to achieve safe shutdown, and the separation of electrical
components and circuits to ensure that at least one safe shutdown path was free of fire
damage. The inspectors reviewed selected portions of the UFSAR Section 9.5.1, Fire
Protection Program, Appendix 9A, Fire Hazards Analysis, and Appendix 9B,
Comparison of VEGP Units 1 and 2 with Requirements of the BTP CMEB 9.5-1. This
review was conducted to determine if the licensee’s commitments, as established in the
fire protection licensing basis documents, were satisfied.
The inspectors reviewed the licensee’s documents which establish and implement
controls and practices to prevent fires and to control the storage of permanent and
transient combustible materials and ignition sources, to verify that the objectives
established by the NRC-approved fire protection program were satisfied. The
documents reviewed are listed in the attachment.
The inspectors reviewed the basic layout of the plant and raceway system to verify that
it provided good physical separation of redundant circuits, therefore limiting the
possibility that redundant circuits would be routed in the same fire zone. For example,
there were two separate main control room termination cabinet/cable spreading rooms,
one below the control room for Train A cables and one above the control room for Train
B cables. In addition, the team walked down the selected fire zones to look for cases of
redundant cables routed in the same zone.
The inspectors toured the selected plant fire areas/zones to observe: (1) the material
condition of fire protection systems and equipment, (2) the storage of permanent and
transient combustible materials, and (3) the licensee’s implementation of the
programmatic procedures for limiting fire hazards, combustible waste collection,
housekeeping practices, and cleanliness conditions. These reviews were accomplished
to ensure that the licensee was maintaining the fire protection systems, had properly
evaluated in-situ combustible fire loads, controlled hot-work activities, and limited
transient fire hazards in a manner consistent with the UFSAR, administrative procedures
and other fire protection program procedures. In addition, the inspectors reviewed
design control procedures to determine if plant changes were adequately evaluated for
the potential impact on the fire protection program, safe shutdown equipment, and plant
procedures (as required by the fire protection program).
The inspectors reviewed operator and fire brigade staffing, fire brigade response, fire
brigade qualification training and drill program procedures, and fire brigade drill critiques
for brigade shifts from January 2002, to August 2004. The reviews were performed to
determine whether fire brigade drills had been conducted in high fire risk plant areas
and whether fire brigade personnel training, qualifications, manning assignments, drill
response, and performance met the requirements of the fire protection program.